Enjoy!

If one were to go over the river and through the wood they would be surprised to find not Grandma's house, but a large cozy home with plenty of open space. This home belonged to a famous engineer-singer duo who made names for themselves in their respective fields. This was the home of the Arc family.

In the Arc family, every child was required to learn how to play at least one musical instrument regardless of other passions and aspirations. For this reason June received a guitar, Juliet obtained a clarinet and Julia was regrettably given a trumpet. The three sisters were quite proficient in their respective instruments, but June had gone above and beyond learning how to play other instruments. She was at the point where she could teach Jaune how to play piano.

On this specific summer afternoon, one could hear the sound of a piano played by a four year old child. Every so often a person could hear a frustrated grunt followed by the typical blare of piano keys being smashed out of frustration.

"June, I don't like the piano anymore!" Jaune huffed with his arms crossed. "Playing piano is too hard."

June, who was working on some editing for Juliet, put down the pages and pen. She walked over to the little boy. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I can't play the piano right!" fumed Jaune.

"What do you mean by that?" June had been glancing at her brother every now while she was reading and editing. Jaune had perfect form and posture as he played. The sound was also fair and accurate, not a single note missed. There wasn't anything wrong with how he was playing.

"I keep forgetting how fast I have to play or how loud I have to play. It hurts my head." Jaune held his head to emphasize the point.

June smiled warmly at her brother. "Jaune, remember that your musical instrument isn't your enemy. It is the extension of your soul. You need to loosen up and let the piano speak to you. Let the notes guide the conversation."

Jaune stared blankly at his sister. Jaune found that his sister sometimes to use confusing wording. "What?"

"Allow me to demonstrate it for you." June sat down next to Jaune. She began playing the song exactly as written on the score. The notes rang with a cheerful atmosphere. Jaune kicked his feet to the rhythm as he hummed along. June began her explanation. "Jaune, this is the regular way to play it. But you know this isn't the only way to play it."

"What do you mean?" He couldn't think of a different way to play the piece besides the way the music sheets said. That was how he was taught to play.

"You've heard it the normal way, but watch this." June jumped into the next measure. Her pace twice as fast. Jaune jumped at the sudden change in tempo. The cheery atmosphere was replaced with an electric feeling. The sound pulsated with each beat. "See Jauney, you can play it faster and louder or-" the tempo dropped and the music became a whisper. The melody washed over Jaune in a soothing manner. "You can play it soft and slow." June finished playing. "Do you get it now Jauney? You just have to play how you feel. No one is asking for you to follow the music 100%. Play as you please."

Jaune nodded as he took her words to heart. Satisfied with the lesson June got up. "Okay, now you try. No need to care about how loud or how fast, just play." Jaune turned towards the piano and set his hands on the keys. He closed his eyes and searched deep within him to find the way he wanted to play.

He could feel his soul being connected to the piano through his fingertips. It was speaking to him. Faint balls of light flashed on the keys. His instincts told him to move his fingers and play.

June watched her brother sit in silence. His brows furrowed in concentration. June grinned when Jaune's fingers began to move on top of the keys without playing them. 'He really has a special connection to music.'

After shadow playing for a few more minutes, Jaune began to play.

It was magical.

June felt her spirit being carried outside. She felt as though she was standing in a wide open area. The breeze in her hair as the sun bathed her in light. The grass danced in the wind along the music. She saw children running around laughing and free.

"Woah."

June broke her trance. Her eyes locked on the crack in the door to the room. She could see a stripe of blonde through the seam. "No Julia, you can't use Jaune as a model right now."

The nine year old walked in. "Aw, I can't hide anything from you, Sis."

Jaune stopped playing and turned to her sister. "Julie, why do want me to model for you again?"

"Because your proportions are perfect, and Juliet won't do it for me." Julia walked over and hit Jaune on the head. "Also, it's Julia, with an a. JU-LI-A. Don't just shorten it to Julie."

"Aw, but Julie sounds like a good nickname." pointed out June. "Unless you want to go back to Juju."

Julia's eyes widen in horror. "No! Anything but that!" Julia's mind remembered the accursed times she spent under that nickname. Just hearing it made her shiver.

"Julie it is." declared June. June directed her attention towards Jaune. "We're going to see Mom today, have you been practice the other song?"

"I have it memorized." cheered Jaune with a thumbs up.

"That's my little bro." June ruffled his hair. "Keep practicing what I just told you. I'll be helping Julia if you need anything."

"Okay." accepted Jaune. He got back to his practice. The bewitching melody seeped out of the piano. June was prepared and wasn't put into a trance this time. Julia, on the other hand, was completely under the music's spell.

"Let's go, Julia" June grabbed the young girl by the hand and left the room. June dragged the hypnotized girl all the way to the twins' room. The room reflected the personalities of both girls.

On one side, it was painted a shocking pink. The bed was messy and sheets were thrown this way and that. Along the wall hung sketches of different clothing styles drawn up. There were also a plethora of mannequins used as a reference for her clothes, but none really compared to Jaune's figure. Fabric of different colors littered the floor and bed. The only thing neat and orderly was her desk. On it were many little shelf full of ribbon, lace, and thread. Her precious sewing machine sat at the center.

The other side of the bed contrasted differently. It was neat and orderly. The walls were painted a pale blue that matched the sky. The bed was neat and the sheets were made with the corners creased. Along one side was a large bookshelf overflowing with books of all sized. The only messy area was the desk. It had a tornado of papers and writing utensils. At the desk, Julie was holding the end of her pencil to her chin in thought.

"Hey, Jewel what are you working on?" Juliet turned around upon hearing her nickname to see her two sisters. June set Julia down on her bed waiting for the music's effect to wear off.

"Oh hi June. I was just writing an outline for my next story." June walked over to hand Juliet what she edited. "I looked through the story and did some basic grammar and spelling checks. It's a great story by the way."

"Thanks sis. Could you do a quick look over of this story?" Juliet gestured towards the text she was just written up. June skimmed through the outline. After a quick read through, June looked baffled.

"Jewel."

"Yeah June?"

"I know romance runs through your veins, but was it really necessary for the main character to be everyone else's love interest? I mean, even the wolf began having feelings for her? I find it a little...excessive."

Juliet defended her character. "What? She's loved by everyone. No one can resist an adorable little girl. Not even big bad wolves. What's not to love about her?"

June sighed, knowing there would be no fighting this matter. "Okay Jewel, just don't take any of your stories too far."

"Wouldn't dream of it." smiled the nine year old. The truth was that Juliet had already ventured into the realm of adults. Underneath her current outline was her plan for a far more intimate line of works. She was currently looking for a theme to tie it all together. Maybe ninjas was the answer.

Julia had decided to come to shortly afterwards. "Boy, does Jaune know how to play or what." She felt

"He is pretty talented." agreed June. Julia watched June fiddle around with the dress Julia designed. It was a pink dress she planned on wearing for her next birthday.

"June, what do you think?"

"Well," June began picking it apart. "You did a good job of sewing it together. Though you still have a few months before your birthday. Keep in mind you will probably grow a bit in that time. You should add lace here and here to highlight your figure. Remember the dress you made last year? Lastly, I think you should change the bedazzled gems from complete pink to alternating white and pink. It makes the pink of the entire dress stand out more."

Julia took note. She always found it amazing that June could not only keep up with her, but with Juliet and Jaune as well. All while pursuing her true passion. Cooking.

"I'll get started on the changes right away." Julia hopped off the bed ready to fix her dress when June stopped her.

"Hold it, we need to get ready to go see Mom. Dad said we're leaving in 15 minutes."

"Oh fine, just let me write down what I need to do on a piece of paper." Julia flung some fabric to find some paper.

"I'm going to see how Jaune is doing. Get your presents ready and meet me downstairs." June closed the door behind her.

In the end, Julia couldn't find and paper that wasn't already filled with her drawings. She turned towards her twin with tears welling up in her eyes. "Juliet."

"I got you covered sis." Juliet lifted a piece of paper with everything June has mentioned written down on it. Julia swiped the list from her twin. "Thanks, love you sis."

"Don't mention it, now get your present ready. June said dad would be here soon." Juliet set her pencil down and grabbed a neat package from her bookshelf.

"Yeah yeah, don't need to tell me twice." Julia pinned the edits to be made on her dress and pulled out a large paper bag that was topped with tissue paper from under her bed.

The two left the room with their presents. Shortly after, the four siblings packed into the newly bought minivan and headed towards the hospital.

The kids walked into their mother's small hospital room. Interestingly enough, it was the same room she had when giving birth to the rest of her children.

"Hi everyone, it's good to see you." Johanna greeted them warmly.

"Hi, mom" called back the four children in unison.

"You all look older than when I last saw you." joked Johanna. "I'm beginning to think I spend most of my time in this room."

"Mama, where are the babies?" Jaune inquired. The Arc siblings knew that this time their mother had given birth to triplets. Jaune curious to see the new siblings. Being the youngest, he hadn't seen what a baby looked like.

"They're right over there. Their names are Joan, Jean, and Jane." Everyone looked over to see the triplets. They were each in their own separate bed with their names labeled. Each baby looked identical to the other.

"Yes, they're all girls!" cheered Julia. "That means my present isn't going to be weird for any of them."

Johanna gave a curious look to her daughter. "Oh? And what did you bring for the little ones?"

Julia gave a monkey grin as she handed her mom the bag. Inside the bag was a triple of onesies. "Oh, did you make these Juju?"

"Yep." Julia replied through grit teeth. "And we changed my nickname to Julie."

"I'll make note of it sweetie." Johanna looked at the other twin. In her arms was the package she had brought with her earlier. "Jewel, did you bring your own present?"

Juliet nodded and opened the package. Uncovering the wrapping revealed a couple of children's bedtime stories. "I thought it might be nice if you had some books to read to them. Of course there's more than one for variety."

"That's very thoughtful Jewel." Johanna accepted the books graciously. "Jaune, did you bring a present."

"Mama, I don't have my gift with me right now." confessed the little four year old.

"Oh?"

"Jaune has a song he wanted to play, which is why he can't give his gift now." explained June.

"I see, June did you happen to get the girls anything?" Johanna had expected her eldest daughter to have prepared something marvelous, but June seemed to be empty handed.

"Seeing how they're triplets and all, I thought I'd get some accessories to tell them apart." June pulled out a hairpin, two scrunchies, and a bandana.

Johanna looked at the bandana. "Really, a bandana?"

"I was a little busy." reasoned June. She had helped everyone else with their presents, which gave her little time to work on her own. It was a cop out, but she didn't have the time to pull off anything else.

"Fair enough." Johanna looked at the girls she had gotten from the twins. It was obvious that June had played some role in creating them. "Why don't you decide which baby gets which accessory."

June took the objects and walked over to the babies. She gave the hairpin to Joan, the scrunchies to Jane, and the bandana to Jean. Of course she didn't put them on the babies. June merely set them down near the children.

There was a knock on the door and a nurse came in. "Sorry to interrupt, but I would just like to mention that visiting hours are about to be over in five minutes."

John nodded and said. "We'll wrap it up quickly." the nurse nodded back and left the room.

"Come on kids, let's give mommy a chance to rest. I'm sure it's been a long day." Jaune and the twins started to complain until Johanna pretended to be tired. John and the children left so their mother could get some sleep.

Johanna looked at the gifts the twins had given her. "Honestly, every one of them will make it far." She smiled at the future of her children and looked over at the triplets. "You girls will make it far too. I'm sure of it."

"Okay Jaune, let's hear it." Jaune's mother stood next to the piano. In her hands was Joan and Jane who were sleeping quietly. Jean was in John's hands and she was currently being fed from a baby bottle.

The entire Arc family was standing around the piano waiting for Jaune to play. Johanna had the most expectations from this performance. She was eager to see what her son was capable on. Jaune closed his eyes to find his zone. When he found it he began to play. Immediately, Johanna felt the room fill with sound. She could see a starry night sky. Caught off guard by the experience, Johanna hadn't realized the song that her son was playing.

It was the music box melody.

Johanna couldn't understand how Jaune came across the sheet music, let alone play the piece. It was inconceivable that he would be able to play from ear alone. He was only four! The only people who could pull off playing by ear would have been her and...She looked at her eldest daughter. "Oh June"

June smiled. "What can I say, he begged me to teach him song."

The song ended and Jaune opened his eyes. Everyone, with free hands, clapped. "What was wonderful, dear." commended his mother.

"Good on you, Son." nodded his father.

"Well the performance is over, can we go now. I want dinner!" Julia held her stomach as she impatiently looked at the door.

"Yes, let's go." allowed her mother. Julia quickly sprinted out the door and into the dining room. The rest of the family followed after the lonesome twin.

As they walked out Johanna commented, "He's growing up to be a fine musician, isn't he."

"He sure is," agreed June.

"Say, do you think he would be okay with entering piano competitions?"

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes."

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to write as fast as I can for you guys, but I'm a pretty slow writer, so bear with me. Review me as you please, I'm just here for the thrill of writing.